Top 5 Reasons Why Kids Should Learn to Code

Top 5 Reasons Why Kids Should Learn to Code

When you start to think about preparing your kids for the future, what important skills come to mind? Math and science? Creativity? Critical thinking? Social and emotional skills? What if I told you that there is one skill that helps foster all of those and much more, and also helps children become producers, and not only consumers, in the tech world that we are still trying to figure out.

That skill, as you might have already guessed, is coding. Coding not only helps kids develop academic and problem-solving skills, but it also builds characters like perseverance, organization, and focus. Early childhood technology professor at Tufts University Dr. Marina Umaschi Bers wrote about how coding is a playground and how she explored “developmental milestones and playful learning experiences that children can have while developing computational thinking and exploring powerful ideas from computer science.”

Here are the top 5 reasons why kids should learn to code in this day and age:

1. Coding helps kids develop logic and critical thinking skills.

The core of coding is solving problems, and doing so often requires a disciplined approach. The ability to approach problems in a structured way and use abstract ideas to represent certain concepts is essential to problem-solving and critical thinking. Learning to code helps kids break down problems and finding solutions to small issues – being able to analyze different situations in order to connect the dots eventually.

2. Coding fosters creativity and allows ideas to take shape.

Have you had a cool idea but can’t quite figure out how to execute? Coding can help put that idea into practice. Similar to other creative outlets like drawing, writing, or playing music, kids can come up with awesome creations in code. Once they learn how to code, they can create their own games, build websites, automate computer tasks, and do whatever else their fantastical minds come up with. Having the power to create and actually see the creation through is something a child can be immensely proud of. They are essentially becoming superheroes with their own superpowers!

3. Coding helps kids develop social and emotional skills.

With coding naturally comes debugging. Nothing builds resilience and perseverance better than facing series of challenges and overcoming them through hard work. It can make kids feel empowered, confident, and ready to conquer the world. Moreover, coding teaches kids collaboration. It’s not only communicating with machines, it’s communicating with people, with teammates. It teaches kids to not only know when to look for help, but also how to adapt others’ work into their own. Taking a framework and adapting it into your own can be just as difficult as writing some other code from scratch.

4. Coding is a basic literacy in the digital age.

We live in a world that’s built on technology. In almost every aspect of our lives, we’re surrounded by code, hardware, and programs. As technology continues to advance, our reliance on it will only grow. It’s also worth mentioning coding as a competitive advantage in your kid’s future career. According to Code.org, by this year, 71% of all new STEM jobs are in computing, yet only 8% of STEM graduates are in Computer Science. Even if your child doesn’t go down the professional coding road, understanding coding is part of being literate in the digital era, and will become the language the workforce of the future must understand at some level.

5. Kids learn fast and easily.

If there’s any time people should start learning coding, it’s when they’re young. Digital natives themselves already, today’s kids are learning new technologies effectively at a fast rate, and many of those activities can be smoothly transitioned into learning coding. When your child has more free time and a quickly developing brain that absorbs knowledge like a sponge, it would be a perfect time to introduce them to coding.

We at Little Tinkerer designed Mangobot with the hope that your children could tinker, learn, and develop important skills while they let their imagination run wild and have lots of fun. Our curious and imaginative kids need the tools to become the creative thinkers and problem solvers of the next generation. Kids love exploring things that interest them, and we witness this kind of passion and creative motivation every day. Order your Mangobot today and see for yourself!